Korea test bed for games

The Asian chief of a leading global game development company said that Korea is a test bed for the firm’s future growth.

“Korea serves as an excellent test bed for drawing the future course of the company and League of Legends (LOL). We continuously exchange feedback both with marketing and game developers to expand our presence,” said Jin Oh, Riot Games Managing Director for Asia, in an interview with The Korea Times at the company’s Seoul office.

He said company founder Brandon Beck and executives at Riot Games’ headquarters in California, had a keen interest in Korea for its information technology infrastructure and game culture. Beck visited Korea in May and July, and has publically stated his love for local “PC bangs,” or Internet cafes. Amateur LOL tournaments are open at them weekly, in eight major cities across the country.

“Brandon Beck has a deep-rooted love for everything Korean. I was surprised to learn that he enjoyed frequenting Koreatown in his youth, where he went to PC bangs and had Korean food,” Oh said.

The aspect of Korea that he holds the deepest love for, as does the whole company, is for its eSports, or Korea’s electronics sports league.

“There is no place like Korea where there is such a deep affection and understanding of eSports. It is like the English Premier League of football. We have had cooperation with game organizers and broadcasters from the get-go to materialize a league for LOL here.”

Oh has attributed the success of the company’s game in Korea and globally to the deep-rooted, player-centered philosophy of the founders and employees.

“We are a company founded by game lovers. The question we constantly ask ourselves is, if I were a gamer, what would I want?” he said. “Whether it is graphics, stories or other features, ultimately, we want to continually provide an upgraded holistic experience for players.”

The title’s genre has multiple names: Aeon of Strife (AOS, named after a StarCraft custom map game) and Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA), reflecting the young age of the genre. It is a blend of role-playing and strategy games, in which users pick champions and fight among automated units to destroy the opposing side’s towers to win.

LOL, launched here last November, has become a heavyweight title in the local game industry, edging past big-budget titles from local competitors such as NCsoft and Nexon.

Korea is known as a graveyard for foreign imported games. Only a few have become exceptions, such as StarCraft and Half Life, all now outdated but which still enjoy a cult following. LOL seems only a breath away from gaining the same legendary status, as the firm has taken steps to localize it here.

“We made a Korean champion called Ahri, which was not easy since we are a global company. We had to explain the concept of “kumiho” (a nine-tailed fox from Korean folklore), “hanbok” (Korea traditional clothing) and other local culture to developers who were unfamiliar with Korea,” said Oh.

He said it took months of care and deliberation between employees here and at the company’s headquarters before Ahri was realized. The character is among over 100 champions on the game’s roster. A new champion in a new concept is unveiled weekly, not an easy feat for any online title because the introduction of an overpowered in-game unit can break the balance between abilities. Constant care and patches are required to ensure this doesn’t happen.

The spectacular success overshadows the fact that the game is only nine months old here. “Our biggest task right now is to expand these localization plans further. There will be more programs, more tournaments, and more events that will ultimately allow our users to enjoy the game in the best possible way,” Oh said. <The Korea Times/Cho Mu-hyun>

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